The Nightmare of Gainsbrough Manor
by keyblademastervanitas
Summary: When Val, Zack and Eric go to Aerith's house for a Halloween party at her  house, their the only ones there,and what's even more wierd is when theres a murder involved.


_The Nightmare of Gainsborough Manor_

Souls shouldn't scream, but this one did. Mr. Gainsborough clutched his bleeding chest with one hand and with the other, steadied himself as he walked down the dimly-lit steps to the basement of his house. His short, shallow breathing came out as a cold, damp, white mist in front of him. He knew that the darkness of his past would come back to wreak havoc on him sooner or later. His blood leaving a faint trial of his dying body. He stopped at the bottom breathless.

"**Gainsborough, you pitiful fool. Did you really think that you could escape your past?"**said a voice that sounded like Death itself. Mr. Gainsborough turned around and his blood turned straight to ice. At the top of the stairs was a dark hooded figure; the figure's cloak made it difficult for him to tell if the person was part of the shadows around him. As the person came down the steps, Mr. Gainsborough tried to get away, but tripped over his own feet in pure terror. He couldn't get up because of his failing strength and the assailant grabbed him; dragging him to the dark alters, lit with dark candles.

"**Now, traitor, do you see? You thought you could leave us. But now your only a sacrifice to Lucifer."**the man hissed, putting Gainsborough's body over the altar so only his head stuck out over the edge. The figure removed his hood and Gainsborough gasped in horror. "Vanitas! Why are you doing this?" he wheezed. Vanitas's eyes gleamed with bliss as he looked into Gainsborough's weak ones.

"**Why, you ask?"** Vanitas's smiled wickedly. **"It's simple really; you broke the pact of the Order of the Fallen: treasonous ways -of any kind-result in death."** Vanitas took out the dagger and held it to Mr. Gainsborough's jugular vein, feeling the throb of the blood flow. The blood that was on the blade– when he stabbed Gainsboroughin the chest- dripped down onto the satanic pentagram that the altar was in the middle of.

"May God condemn your blackened soul, Vanitas!" Gainsborough rasped as the blade pressed tighter against his throat. Vanitas laughed in triumph. **"God! That is hilarious! I hope you prayed to **_**Him**_**!"**then in a fluent movement- he slashed Gainsborough's throat. Blood sprayed gloriously from his neck, spilling onto the pentagram, staining it red.

When it was done, Vanitas put his hood back up and wiped the blood off the blade. **"Now the beast has tasted mortal blood and howls for more."**he whispered as he went up the steps of the basement. **"The dark craving will be satisfied on the sacred night of Halloween."**He put his dagger back into hiscloak and vanished into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Valerie felt something touch the back of her neck and spun around, striking without thinking. Her slap connected with flesh. "Just a joke, Val." Eric said rubbing his cheek with a smirk. "Sorry." Val forced herself to say, but the surprise of anger hadn't entirely dissipated and she felt like an idiot. "Anyways," Eric put his arm around Val's waist and pulled her close to him, making her blush. "Since you were <em>SO<em> lost in thought, what were you thinking about?" he murmured in her ear sweetly.

"Okay, break it up you two, we're almost there." Zack said from the front seat of the car. "_Yes, brother Zack._" Eric retorted, winking at Val. Zack sighed. It wasn't his fault that Aerith, his girlfriend, lived in the remote suburbs in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina- it was just that he couldn't stand seeing the innocence of his sister be corrupted by Eric, and that the three of them were getting bored of being in the car for almost four hours. Then the car turned into the driveway of Gainsborough Manor and the three of them let out a sigh of relief that the torturous boredom has ended.

The three got out of the car and Val shivered. The sticky heat that made her sweat cling to the fake grey wolf fur of her costume from the car, suddenly dissipated from the unforgiving cold of the night- also the fact that she wore tights under the skirt of her outfit and her knee-high black leather boots didn't help much rung the door bell and Aerith answered the door. "Hey guys! I'm glad that you made it here!" she said kissing Zack on the cheek. Aerith closed the door when Zack, Val, and Eric came inside. The three just looked in awe at how elegant the inside of the house was compared to the old, well-kept appearance of the outside of the house."So is anybody else coming?" Val asked as she took off her wolf-eared hood and ran her fingers through her dark hair.

Aerith sighed "Sadly no. You three are the only ones that came. I guess no one else came because of the story of this house." "What story?" Eric piped up, clearly interested.

"Well, my great-grandfather, Thomas Gainsborough, used to do some Satanist stuff; like animal sacrifices and things like that and one night, got rid of his dark past but he mysteriously died somewhere in the house. I think that's why they didn't come." Aerith said her light emerald eyes not making any eyes contact by fixing a wrinkle on her pink dress. "Well, we made it here anyway. So let's have some fun and so what if no one else comes- it's Halloween." Zack said flashing his one-of-a-kind awesome smile. Eric rolled his eyes and Val elbowed him in the ribs.

"Let's start things off with a tour of the house and we'll go from there." Aerith suggested and everyone agreed. As they walked through the vast hallways; Eric pulled Val aside "This is boring. Let's go have some real fun." He whispered to make sure Zack and Aerith didn't hear him. "Sure," Val said and they snuck out of the house noiselessly.

They went into the dark, ominous forest near the backyard of the house. Val clinged to Eric's arm, her nails digging into the sleeve of his Anthrax t-shirt. "Val, chill out! You're gonna make my arm bleed!" Eric said nudging Val off a little with his elbow."Well it's not my fault that I'm scared as hell right now!" Val answered angrily; her eyes sparkled with the first sign of tears to come.

"It's okay Val," Eric said as he embraced Val lovingly. "I'm here and I'll protect you from anything that threatens to drive us apart." He said as he kissed her lips for the last time. As he said that- Val felt something tugged violently against her and teared her from Eric's embrace, dragging her into the darkness of the forest as she fell to the ground.

"Valerie!" Eric shouted into the darkness only to hear the screams of his beloved to answer him in return. He needed Zack's help even though he didn't like him, but he had no choice in the matter. He ran back to the house with no plan how to save her.

Zack felt his 'over protective brother' senses tingling when he saw Eric without Val. "What did you _DO_?" he yelled as he slammed the boy into the wall, his sky-blue eyes burning into Eric's dark ones. "Nothing! Val and I were just going for a walk in the forest; when she got dragged deeper into the forest by something." his voice hardly a whisper now because he couldn't save her. "Do you know what took her?" Zack said as he let go of Eric and he shook his head glumly "No. It was too dark to see anything."

Zack sighed; he traced the X-shaped scar on his left cheek, remembering Emma -Val's twin sister who died in a car crash last year- and he wasn't about to lose the other one. "Okay, let's find her. Aerith I want you to stay here until we get back with Val." Aerith crossed her arms across her chest. "No. I'm not staying just so you can be lost like your sister will be if we don't find her soon. Besides I know the forest better than anyone here" She said and Zack sighed at the valid point she made. "Then let's go there isn't much time."

* * *

><p>Val awoke to dark incantations. Shadows danced from the firelight of the bonfire. Her memory was fuzzy on how she got here: she remembered getting separated from Eric by something; but what then? Val looked around, seeing with the light of the full moon and the bonfire that she was near the lake. She tried to move but she was bounded spread-eagle, with black corded rope to an altar of black stone. She tried to scream, but she was also gagged with a cloth in her mouth.<p>

The circle had been prepared earlier that night, a perfect nine feet, by the clearing of trees and young saplings near the lake. The ground had been sprinkled with consecrated earth.

Clouds, dark and secretive, danced over the pale moon. Thirteen figures, in black hooded cloaks, stood inside the protective circle. In the woods beyond, a lone owl began to scream, in lament or in sympathy. When the gong sounded, even it was silenced. For a moment, there was only the murmur of the wind through the late October leaves. In the pit at the left side of the circle, the fire already smoldered. Soon the flames would rise up, called by that same wind or other forces.

The high priest, Vanitas, having donned his mask of the Goat of Mendes, began to chant in bastardized Latin. When he had finished his recitation, he raised his arms high toward the inverted pentagram above the altar. A bell was rung to purify the air.

From their hiding place in the brush, Eric, Aerith, and Zackwatched; their eyes wide with curiosity and in fear that they were too late to save Val. There was a burning smell coming from the pit where flames crackled, sending sparks shooting high. Odd shapes had been carved in the trunks of the circling trees.

Val felt her heart beating in her throat when Vanitas began to chant again.**"We call on Ammon, the god of life and reproduction; On Pan, the god of lust." **After the calling of each name, the others repeated it. The list was long.

The group was swaying now, a deep hum rising up among them while Vanitas drank from a silver chalice. Finished, he set the cup down in the space where Val's wrists were took up a sword and pointing it south, east, north, and west, called up the four princes of hell.

_**Satan, lord of fire**_

_**Lucifer, bringer of light**_

_**Belial, who has no master**_

_**Leviathan, serpent of the deep**_

In the brush, the three shuddered and were afraid to do anything.

**"Ave, Satan."**

**"I call upon you, Master, Prince of Darkness, King of the Night, throw wide the Gates of Hell and hear us."** Vanitas shouted the words, not like a prayer, but a demand. As his voice rang out, he held up a parchment. The lights from the greedy flames washed through it like blood. **"We ask that our crops be bountiful,our cattle fruitful. Destroy our enemies, bring sickness and pain to those who would harm us. We, your faithful, demand fortune and pleasure."**He placed a hand on the altar. **"We take what we wish, in your name, Lord of the Flies. In your name, we speak: Death to the weak. Wealth to the strong." **His voice rose as he continued his requests. He thrust the sword's point through the parchment and held it over the flame of a black candle until all that remained of it was the stink of smoke. The chant of the circle of twelve swelled behind him.

At some signal, two of the cloaked figures pulled a young goat into the circle. As its eyes rolled in fright, they chanted over it, nearly screaming now. The athamas was drawn, the ceremonial dagger whose freshly sliver blade glimmered under the moon's shinning zenith.

When Val saw the blade slice across the white goat's throat, she tried to scream, but no sound passed her lips. She wanted to run, but she couldn't because she was bounded to the altar.

The ground ran with blood. It dripped over the sides of a shallow silver bowl. The voices of the men were a roaring buzz in her ears as she watched them throw the headless carcass of the goat into the fire pit. Now the stink of roasting flesh hung sickeningly in the a cry, Vanitas pressed the blade to Val's throat and slit it…

* * *

><p>Emma awoke screaming, her face dripping with sweat from the horrid nightmare she just witnessed. She wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a sigh of relief. "It was just a dream, only a dream." she whispered to herself as shedrifted herself back to sleep. <em>Valerie couldn't be alive. She died in that car crash last year. <em>She casted off the thought as her eyes drooped down, sending the dark nightmare along with it.


End file.
